Mugabe may replace MDC ministers boycotting govt

Harare, 28 Oct-(ANA)-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe may appoint acting ministers in place of officials from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party who are boycotting cabinet meetings, local media have said.

The rival leaders formed a power-sharing government in February to ease a decade-long political and economic crisis, but they have been arguing over how to share executive power, the appointment of senior state officials, the pace of reform and Western sanctions against Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

The dispute deepened when Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Party (MDC) said it would stop attending cabinet meetings in protest against the arrest of one of its top officials and what it called Mugabe's refusal to fully implement the power-sharing pact.

State controlled Herald newspaper quoted Information Minister Webster Shamu as saying Mugabe might soon appoint acting ministers to fill in for MDC officials.

Shamu said the MDC boycott, which began on Oct. 16, was affecting the government's work in preparing for a new farming season and its efforts to turn around the agriculture-based economy after years of recession. (ANA)

FA/ANA/28 October 2009----